I'm going to have to guess, just a guess by myself. If a rotor machine will be "old" by around 4,000 not all but most I believe start encountering problems around that hour mark, I would say a conventional walker machine would be good through 7500 hours probably. Just a guestimate correct me if I'm wrong. Anyone?
I feel that rotary machines for the most part last longer than conventional machines. At least when a rotary machine is worn out, you change the rasp bars and the concave an bam you ready for another 3000 hours, with a conventional there are so many more moving parts once stuff starts to go it's a lot more money to get everything back in shape and there is always that one bearing that you missed during pre-season that will bite you in the but during harvest. Of course, I used to Massey machines, so deere's might be a totally different ball game because I've only run with them for a few days at a time, and they were never older then a few year old( mostly 60 series) so I don't know how they will last over the long run.
But their capacity is way better then a 9600, I have never been impressed with the 9600, always throw out over the walkers, already saw a 95 9600 have trouble keeping up with a 83 6 cylinder Massey Ferguson 860 because walker loss was limiting it in canola.
I actually felt sorry for the guy in the 9600. But just to you I wouldn't wish the 9600 on anybody because there are a lot of other combines that are vastly superior to the 9600. Especially when it comes to performance.
I don't think corn is anywhere near as abrasive as soybeans, unless you have down corn and you are running alot of dirt though the machine too. Soybeans are very abrasive and do wear out augers pretty quick. I've heard that they look like a file under a microscope.
Per bushel, corn isn't bad. For those of you not in corn country, 200 bu/ac is common so you get more wear just in simple terms of volume.
It really depends on what crops they were in... A general rule of thumb that machinery jockeys and custom operators use is that 1 bushel of corn or soybeans will do as much wear to a combine as 3 bushels of wheat.
I think any combine with over 4 or 5 thousand hours on it requires regular repairs, mostly small, but still regular downtime. I don't think i've ever seen a combine with over 6000 hrs on it though.
I've seen 1 year old combines have shafts, gears, chains, flighting, tubes etc be completely worn out even though they were maintained properly according to the manufacturer's recommendations.
Thank you for your answers.
My 9600 a 2400h beater and 3300h drivinf.
And I wanted to buy another who have 5800h beater and 6200h driving!
Did Davedan your machines 9600 work still well? You have replace which parts to do as much work?
Thank you
You can run your machiine as long as you want to replace worn out parts. After every season, you should look closely at everything that turns or has grain rubbing into it. Drain every gearbox and look closely at the oil. Put a bar against shafts to check bearing play. Pretty much common sense, really. Not one thing that was built on there can't be replaced.
I had a 6620 with a blue moon of hours on it and now have a 9500 and intend to do the same. I get a lot of satisfaction in running these old machines and having them payed for.
Quote:I had a 6620 with a blue moon of hours on it and now have a 9500 and intend to do the same. I get a lot of satisfaction in running these old machines and having them payed for.
I have to agree with you on that one Greengiant. When my dad and myself bought our 8820, we practically rebuilt the entire machine. Our machine might not be new but it will do what we want it to do without the payments of a new one. If you keep one up, they will last a long time.
Well, 8820, I'd say the machine of your namesake holds the record [as far as I have seen] of the longest-lasting combine, ever!
A friend of mine, a custom harvester, put over 12,000 hours on one and over 13,500 on another before finally retiring them. Much of the original sheet metal had been replaced. Their engines had at least 1 full overhaul. The separators were completely overhauled seasonally.
I think one secret to my friend's success is also the fact, the 8820's were completely stripped to the shell and re-assembled piece by piece in his shop. It was a lot of extra work, sure, but my friend was never sold on a factory-built combine, always telling me how it just as easily could have been cobbled together on a Monday after a holiday!
His 8820's were as sound, strong and healthy from the get-go. I believe to this day, that was the right start toward their 13,000-hour lives.
Later model 9600's are 2nd best only to an 8820.I've run on harvest back in '95 through '97 and he ran 2 9600s.We always kept them up and never had any problems with them.Capacity wise,they will run with a rotary when they are set up right and with the conventional,you get a better sample in small grains.In corn however,I would rather have a 1680 or 2188.The only reason a 9600 will throw out over the walkers is the operator doesn't know how to set it or he is pushing too much crop through it.The man I worked for on harvest had been cutting since the late forties and he could set a combine so good,that most days you would be hard pressed to find anything coming out of the back of that combine.I've put alot of hours in on a 9600 and I believe they are some of the best combines out there.
I second that of bighp remarks. Ive had the best luck with the 9600s and am currently adding a third to my fleet. I have a 50walker as well but ground conditions wont really allow it to do any more in a days time other than I can now run a 36ft draper so it ups the loads per day a bit. I put many hours on my first 9600 and only got rid of it because I didnt want to put a motor in it, or get stuck needing an engine in the middle of the season, our area is too competitive. Matter of fact I bought the machine with 5000 hrs on it. Took two hard winter rebuilds before I had it where I wanted it and never had serious down time. In fact the last season I ran it I cut 4000 acres of wheat and the only breakdown was a broken bolt on the knife drive. I honestly think what makes the 9600 such a great machine is at that time deere needed a machine to put them a leap ahead of the rest. Major changes from the 20s and titans so it seemed that somethings were old school over engineered, something we dont see too much these days. Heard a guy say one time that Deere has people whos sole job is to design the parts with certain life expectancy, thus more parts sales or even newer machine sales. Ive seen it on later machines. Vehicles these days the same, they get something right and then they go and change it almost because it works too well.
The nice part about the older combines is, that you can do most everything on the farm. It's all mechanical, you see what you are doing and you can learn as you go.
If the 9600 had the bigger elevator of the 9650 it could pick as much corn as a 9660 STS does with a cleaner sample and less downtime.
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